The basement of Kinlaw can be confusing in the early hours of the evening. The fluorescent lights give you the illusion of eternal day time, and the cold temperature keeps you awake as the day comes to a close. Because of that, walking outside once my Wednesday night shift in the Writing Center ends is a bit disorienting. I go from the vibrant and organized Writing Center to the relaxed and pastel evening outside. Inside the Writing Center there is coffee and a binder full of worksheets. Outside the library there is water in the air and the noise of crickets waking up.

I was thinking about the difference between the two environments as I was walking past the stuce porch, and I made a decision: 8:12 p.m. on late summer evenings is the best time to be alive and outside.

This seems fairly inconsequential. After all, there are plenty of other things that need to be done at 8:12 p.m. on late summer evenings. Notes have to be studied, papers have to be written, practices have to be attended, and Netflix shows have to be watched. But if you can find a moment to get away from all of that, I assure you that you won't be disappointed. The sky at 8:12 p.m. will always be marvelous. It is nearing the end of the day, just like us, and it plans to go out in an amazing display of colors and clouds.

You might make the point that some evenings at 8:12 p.m., a thunderstorm is happening and the sky is grey and heavy. I agree; sometimes there are thunderstorms. How can this be the sky's goodbye after a long day of movement and color? It can be the sky's goodbye because it reminds us of just how big the sky and the earth and God are. No container can hold as much water as the sky holds rain. There is no generator grand enough to create the same patterns of lightning and thunder that the sky creates every time there's a storm. Simply living while a thunderstorm takes place is a lesson in the majesty of the sky.

I made another decision as I was walking home from work tonight. I decided that I would write this article. I decided my first article would be about something I love more than quite a lot of things. It would be about the sky and the colors and clouds and texture of the air. I decided that it would be okay if my first article were a little hippy-dippy and a little bit eccentric.

So thank you, potential friend. You're one of the readers of my very first article and you might even be feeling something because of my writing. That is always my goal, so I will continue to attempt that throughout the year.

And remember, 8:12 p.m.